Re: [PATCH V23 2/3] misc: dcc: Add driver support for Data Capture and Compare unit(DCC)

[Souradeep Chowdhury <quic_schowdhu@quicinc.com>]

On 6/15/2023 7:36 PM, Greg Kroah-Hartman wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 15, 2023 at 07:17:34PM +0530, Souradeep Chowdhury wrote:
>>>>>> +static ssize_t ready_read(struct file *filp, char __user *userbuf,
>>>>>> +			  size_t count, loff_t *ppos)
>>>>>> +{
>>>>>> +	int ret = 0;
>>>>>> +	char *buf;
>>>>>> +	struct dcc_drvdata *drvdata = filp->private_data;
>>>>>> +
>>>>>> +	mutex_lock(&drvdata->mutex);
>>>>>> +
>>>>>> +	if (!is_dcc_enabled(drvdata)) {
>>>>>> +		ret = -EINVAL;
>>>>>> +		goto out_unlock;
>>>>>> +	}
>>>>>> +
>>>>>> +	if (!FIELD_GET(BIT(1), readl(drvdata->base + dcc_status(drvdata->mem_map_ver))))
>>>>>> +		buf = "Y\n";
>>>>>> +	else
>>>>>> +		buf = "N\n";
>>>>>> +out_unlock:
>>>>>> +	mutex_unlock(&drvdata->mutex);
>>>>>> +
>>>>>> +	if (ret < 0)
>>>>>> +		return -EINVAL;
>>>>>> +	else
>>>>>
>>>>> You do the "lock, get a value, unlock, do something with the value"
>>>>> thing a bunch, but what prevents the value from changing after the lock
>>>>> happens?  So why is the lock needed at all?
>>>>
>>>> The lock is used to prevent concurrent accesses of the drv_data when
>>>> scripts are being run from userspace.
>>>
>>> How would that matter?  The state can change instantly after the lock is
>>> given up, and then the returned value is now incorrect.  So no need for
>>> a lock at all as you really aren't "protecting" anything, or am I
>>> missing something else?
>>
>> This lock is needed to protect the access to the global instance of drv_data
>> structure instantiated at probe time within each individual callbacks of
>> debugfs.
> 
> What exactly are you "protecting" here that could change in a way that
> cause a problem?
> 
> You aren't returning a value that is ever guaranteed to be "correct"
> except that it happened sometime in the past, it might be right anymore.

Hi Greg,

The lock doesn't add any value in this particular case and I will be 
dropping it from here but in other cases it is being used to protect the 
concurrent access of the data-structures used inside the drv_data mainly 
the list which is being used to append register configurations, write 
the configuration to the dcc_sram and also delete it while doing a 
config reset. The lock is also used in case of software trigger to read 
the bitmap of the lists to set register values.

Thanks,
Souradeep

> 
> thanks,
> 
> greg k-h